Updates

Just as a history note, at its October 31, 2008 meeting, the SEIC approved a motion (SEIC #102008f) to change the venue of of L3 River Kayaking courses to sections of rivers rated up to class I-II (previously up to class I) and to change the venue of L4 Whitewater Kayaking courses to sections of rivers rated up to class II-III (previously up to class II). The ACA Board of Directors approved these changes 2 days later on November 2, 2008 with motion #09-05.

Keep up with events significant to instructors by watching your email for the monthly SEI Focus newsletter from ACA.

In March 2011, the SEIC and ACA Board of Directors approved a one-day crossover curriculum (ICE) to allow current L4+ River Kayak (or River Canoe) instructors to achieve L3 River Safety and Rescue Instructor certification after successful completion of this ICE. Contact ACA Safety and Rescue L3+ ITs about Crossover ICEs.

In October 2011 SEIC and the ACA Board of Directors approved a change in curriculum now allowing L2 and higher River or Coastal Kayak instructors to teach the Flatwater Kayak Safety and Rescue course.

In October 2011, the SEIC and ACA Board of Directors changed the wording of L2 and higher instructor criteria to reflect a change in the interpretation of basic rescue techniques. Where previously “Hand-of-god” had been a requirement, the criteria now reflect the need for instructors and instructor candidates to perform an “Unresponsive paddler rescue” with Hand-of-god offered as an example of such. See L2-L5 River Kayak instructor criteria for specific language.

In February 2009, the SEIC and ACA Board of Directors approved a proposal allowing all ACA instructors to perform skills assessments at, or below their certified level. For example, an L4 River Kayak instructor could perform Level 1, 2, 3 or 4 River Kayak Skills Assessment for students (but could not perform an L5 Assessment). River Kayak Skills Assessments can all be found at: http://www.americancanoe.org/?page=Courses_Kayaking

In June 2010, the ACA Board of Directors authorized L3 River Kayak Instructors who have successfully completed the River Kayak Day Trip Leader Assessment (RKDTLA) to add that to their certification as an endorsement and to subsequently teach and assess that course themselves. L4 and L5 River Kayak Instructors could already teach and assess the RKDTLA.

In the February 2011 SEI Focus newsletter, ACA presented recommended minimum durations for Instructor Certification Workshops.

For River Kayak, the recommendations  are:

L1: 2 Days (1 for IDW, 1 for ICE)
L2: 3 Days (2 for IDW, 1 for ICE)
L3: 4 Days (3 for IDW, 1 for ICE)
L4: 5 Days (3 for IDW, 2 for ICE)
L5: 2 (ICE Only)

In June, 2009, the SEIC and ACA Board of directors required all ACA instructors to have and maintain First Aid certification appropriate to the venue at which they are teaching and age-appropriate CPR certification. ACA instructor certification is not valid unless these other two certifications are current.

See the current SEIC policy manual for more details.

At the October 2011 SEIC and ACA Board meetings the Instructor requirements to maintain current CPR and first aid certifications was updated to establish that courses taken to meet these criteria “…must include hands on practice and skills demonstration.” This change was made in response to the rising availability of on-line courses that had no hands-on component that the SEIC and Board of Directors believed provided substandard skills.

See the current SEIC Policy Manual for definitive details.